Technical Field
The present invention relates to a vehicle electrical system.
Related Art
Conventionally, a sliding door that is opened and closed by a slide movement in an advancing direction is used for a lot of vehicles including wagons and one-box cars. Such a sliding door is provided with various electrical components such as a motor for a powered window, a door lock unit, and a speaker. Also, a wire harness (electric cable) for supplying power and transmitting/receiving electric signals between the vehicle and the electrical components provided to the sliding door is routed (see Patent Literature 1). In the invention disclosed in JP 2007-151377 A, an electric cable is routed as being bent between the vehicle and the sliding door.
Recently, the number of electrical components to be mounted to a sliding door is increased, leading to an increase in the number of electric cables to be routed. In addition, an amount of power to be supplied to each of electrical components is also increased, leading to an increase in size in the radial direction of an electric cable routed between the vehicle and the sliding door. Therefore, it is difficult to ensure the space for routing a large-sized electric cable between the vehicle and the sliding door. The technology to address this problem is disclosed in JP 2009-120156 A.
Patent Literature 2 discloses a vehicle electrical system comprising: a motor (electrical component) for a powered window provided to a door that can be opened/closed with respect to a vehicle body; a power feeding terminal mounted on the vehicle body; a power receiving terminal mounted to the door; a power supply line for supplying power from a battery mounted on the vehicle body to the motor for the powered window through the power feeding terminal and the power receiving terminal; and a capacitor mounted to the door and charged by power from the power supply line. When the door is opened and the power supply from the battery to the door is shut off, the vehicle electrical system activates the electrical components such as the motor for the powered window by power stored in the capacitor. In addition, this conventional vehicle electrical system also includes a control unit that is mounted to the vehicle body and issues an activation request signal to the electrical components, and a wireless communication unit that transmits/receives the activation request signal between the vehicle body and the door through wireless communication. The power feeding terminal and the power receiving terminal are composed of a contact connector. The vehicle electrical system described above supplies power to the motor for the powered window or the capacitor from the battery through the contact connector which is in contact with or separated from each other with the opening/closing of the door, whereby a harness for power supply and a harness for signal transmission, which are laid between the vehicle body and an opening/closing member such as a door, are eliminated.
The vehicle electrical system disclosed in Patent Literature 2 supplies power to the door from the vehicle body through the contact connector. Meanwhile, it is considered that the power supply is interrupted due to contact failure between both terminals of the contact connector when the door is closed. To address such a problem, JP 2009-120156 A discloses supplying power to the door from the vehicle body through an electromagnetic induction connector in place of the contact connector in the vehicle electrical system.
Patent Literature 1: JP 2007-151377 A
Patent Literature 2: JP 2009-120156 A